Report highlights need for A595 and A590 improvements

Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership has published a detailed strategic study highlighting improvements needed to Cumbria's roads and documenting ways to eliminate certain black spots.

I was very pleased to see that the report singles out the A595/A590 route from Whitehaven to Barrow as particularly needing attention.

The West of M6 Strategic Connectivity Study highlights a list of prioritised projects across the A590 and A595 to improve transport links and help Cumbria make the most of a new age of economic prosperity.

Graham Haywood, director of Cumbria LEP, believes now is the time to address these issues as the county prepares for £40bn of investment.

He told the North West Evening Mail that: "Clearly there's going to be an increase in road traffic movement and we need to be making a case for improvements to be able to accommodate for that.

"The developments at BAE, GSK and Siemens are all going to create additional traffic and we need to be ready for that. There are quite significant housing schemes in Ulverston that will also add to that.

"We have got to get the infrastructure ready to accommodate that rather than wait until it's all clogged up."

There is also, of course, the strong possibility of a new nuclear plant at Moorside near Sellafield and these improvements would be absolutely essential as part of a package to enable the transport network to cope if that development goes ahead.

The plan has been devised to help cut journey times across Cumbria and to enable people to get better access to key areas of development.]

Cumbria LEP has compiled a list of "interventions" or projects that have been identified as key areas needing improvement and has marked each one according to its strategic and economic impact, value for money and feasibility.

The top scoring projects were then listed as priorities, which will be handed over to Highways England and Cumbria County Council to assess for their next round of funding in 2019. From then, it could take a further three to seven years to complete the most urgent projects, if a bid for funding is successful.

More details on the North West Evening Mail site at

http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/barrow/Masterplan-revealed-to-transform-A590-and-A595-in-south-Cumbria-ed9dc0e6-a8ed-4478-922a-dd8cf697c0e8-ds.

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